Tackling a pioneering enhanced oil recovery project in Oman scooped Mott MacDonald the Engineering Achievement of the Year at the 2011 Oil & Gas Middle East awards.
Engineering services is one of the most competitive segments of the upstream industry, and this was reflected in the judge’s deliberations, which came down to a casting vote.
Mott MacDonald is tackling large engineering jobs of increasing complexity throughout the region, including challenging environments like Iraq, where the firm has opened an office in the new Energy City complex near Basra.
But the project that saw Mott MacDonald best the rest was the $1.2 billion steam injection program at the Qarn Alam oil field in Oman, the world’s first full-field steam-injection project based on thermally assisted gas/oil gravity drainage in a fractured carbonate field.
Accepting the award for Mott MacDonald, Vinod Shah, Chief Operating Director for Oil Gas and Petrochemicals, told Oil & Gas Middle East that the most rewarding part of the project was when PDO could see the production benefits of the investment.
“The project was very technically challenging as we were doing it for the first time,” said Shah, who says being at the edge of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques was made easier by PDO’s outlook.
“PDO is a very forward-looking company,” said Shah. “We’ve been working with them for the last 43 years.”
The objective of this project was to increase oil production to 60,000 bpd by injecting steam at the rate of 18,000 tons per day into the oil reservoir. With EOR accounting for around a third of Omani oil production, projects such as Qarn Alam ensure Mott MacDonald will be significant part of the Sultanate’s energy future.
